The present invention relates generally to the art of semiconductor device manufacturing and more particularly to methods for fabricating and separating dies from a wafer in the manufacture of semiconductor devices.
In the manufacture of semiconductor devices, such as integrated circuits (ICs), multiple devices and interconnections (e.g., circuits) are formed on a semiconductor wafer and then separated or singulated into individual parts or dies. This allows cost savings and reduced handling compared to forming the devices individually. The individual devices are located within corresponding die areas on the wafer with sufficient spacing provided between adjacent devices for subsequent separation operations and the manufacturing tolerances associated therewith. Typically, the devices are oriented in grid style on the wafer, with rows and columns of devices located on the top or front side of the wafer, wherein the devices are formed by multi-step processing involving selective deposition, removal, and/or doping of areas on the wafer surface to build electrical devices (e.g., transistors, diodes, resistors, capacitors, etc.) and connections therebetween.
Such devices may include integrated circuits, micro electro-mechanical structure (MEMS) devices, optical, opto-electronic, and other types of circuits. Photo-lithographic techniques are commonly employed in order to produce high density devices having hundreds, thousands, or millions of components with very small device feature sizes. Once the devices are created, the individual circuits on the wafer may be tested, after which the individual device dies are separated.
The wafers are typically back-ground through chemical mechanical planarization (CMP) or other material removal techniques, prior to die separation, wherein material is removed from the bottom or back side of the wafer, leaving a smooth bottom surface. The back-grinding is employed to provide dies having a desired final thickness, depending on the target application for which the dies are being produced. Separation of the individual tested dies from the wafer assembly is conventionally done by sawing or otherwise mechanically creating scribe lines such as channels or trenches extending completely through the wafer from the top side, which are located in the spacing or gaps between adjacent devices or die areas. In order to maintain the die in the row and column grid configuration, as well as to mechanically support the die during separation, a tape is applied to the bottom surface (and sometimes also to the top surface) of the wafer prior to the final separation step.
Once the individual dies are physically separated from one another, the dies can be removed from the tape, or alternatively, rows of taped components can be packaged for later provision to pick and place machinery. The semiconductor dies may then be assembled into integrated circuit chips, or may alternatively be secured directly onto printed circuit boards (PCBs), substrates, carriers, suspensions, or other mountings, wherein electrical connections are made to one or more electrically conductive bonding pads on the dies.
When employed in an integrated circuit chip, the semiconductor die is mounted onto a lead frame and wires are connected between lead frame leads and corresponding bonding pads on the die using a technique known as wire bonding. Wire bonding uses fine aluminum or gold wires (e.g., 25 xcexcm in diameter), which are bound to the bonding pads through thermocompression bonding or ultrasonic bonding. Thermocompression bonding involves heating the die and the wire to a high temperature (e.g., about 250 degrees C.), and heating the tip of the wire to form a ball. A holding tool then forces the wire into contact with the bonding pad on the die. The wire adheres to the pad due to the combination of heat and pressure from the tool. The tool is then lifted up and moved in an arc to the appropriate position on the lead frame, while dispensing wire as required, where the process is repeated to bond the wire to the appropriate lead on the lead frame, except that a ball is not formed.
Ultrasonic bonding is sometimes used when the device cannot or should not be heated. The wire and bonding surface (e.g., a bonding pad on the die or a lead on the lead frame) are brought together by the tool, and ultrasonic vibration is used to compress the surfaces together to achieve the desired bond. Once the pads are appropriately connected to the lead frame leads, the lead frame is encapsulated in a ceramic or plastic integrated circuit package (e.g., with portions of the leads externally exposed), which may then be assembled onto a PCB by soldering the exposed leads onto corresponding conductive pads on the board.
Recently, Flip-Chip technology has become popular, wherein an individual semiconductor die is mounted directly to a substrate, PCB, suspension, flex-circuit or the like. Bumps (e.g., solder bumps, plated bumps, gold stud bumps, adhesive bumps, or the like) are added to the bonding pads of the die using a process known as bumping. For example, gold stud bumps are formed through a modified wire bonding technique. This technique makes a gold ball for wire bonding by melting the end of a gold wire to form a sphere. The gold ball is attached to the chip bond pad as the first part of a wire bond. To form gold bumps instead of wire bonds, wire bonders are modified to break off the wire after attaching the ball to the chip bond pad. The resulting gold ball, or xe2x80x9cstud bumpxe2x80x9d remains on the bond pad and provides a permanent connection through the aluminum oxide to the underlying metal.
The bumping step is usually performed during wafer processing prior to separation of the individual die from the wafer. However, the gold stud bump process is applicable to individual single dies or to wafers. With stud bumps attached, the die or chip is then xe2x80x9cflippedxe2x80x9d over, with the bonding pads facing downward, and the bumps are attached to corresponding pads on the board using ultrasonic bonding techniques (hence the name xe2x80x9cFlip-Chipxe2x80x9d). This is typically done by locating the die face-down on the circuit board, and engaging the backside of the chip with an ultrasonic tool. Ultrasonic energy is then applied to the die, whereby an electrical and mechanical bond is formed between the bumps on the die, and the corresponding pads on the circuit board.
Such Flip-Chip applications have numerous advantages, including shorter circuit connections, lower noise susceptibility, and higher component density. Accordingly, Flip-Chip technology (sometimes referred to as direct chip attach (DCA) or chip-on-board) has been successfully employed in a variety of applications, including electronic watches, wireless telephones, pagers, high-speed microprocessors, hand-held and lap-top computers. Another important application where chips or semiconductor dies are mounted directly onto a circuit is in hard disk drives, wherein all or part of a pre-amp circuit associated with a read-write head is mounted onto a flexible circuit or suspension located just above the rotating disk media using chip-on-suspension (COS) techniques. Such a pre-amp circuit may be formed in a small, ultra-thin die (e.g., the die may need to be thin, in order to clear the rotating disk), which is mounted directly onto the suspension for electrically conditioning signals to or from the read-write head. The physical size of the suspension circuit calls for die profiles on the order of 1000 to 2000 xcexcm, and thickness on the order of about 125 xcexcm.
However, several problems arise in this and other applications, which conventional die fabrication and separation techniques either fail to adequately address, or may even exacerbate. One problem with existing saw cutting and other mechanical die separation techniques is wasted wafer space. Conventional spacing between adjacent die areas in a wafer is about 100 xcexcm or more, to accommodate saw blade widths (e.g., about 25 xcexcm or more), and the alignment inaccuracies associated with such mechanical cutting operations. Where small die are being manufactured (e.g., such as disk drive pre-amp die for a COS application), the relatively large spacing required for saw cut separation results in a large portion of the overall wafer space being unusable. In addition, many applications, such as disk drives, are susceptible to particles generated by the conventional back-grinding and saw cut separation operations. The saw cut and back-ground dies may be coated conformally in order to capture such particulate matter. However, this adds further processing steps and cost to the manufacturing process.
Additional particles may result from friction and slippage of ultrasonic tools engaging with the smooth bottom or back-side of the semiconductor dies, for example, during thermal-mechanical (e.g., ultrasonic) attachment of the die stud bumps to the corresponding pads on the suspension circuit. This tool slippage can create particles of silicon, which may break free and cause defects in the disk drive system. Moreover, the smooth bottom surface of conventional semiconductor dies provides minimal surface area to the ambient air flow around the die, resulting in less than optimal convection cooling capability for the part. Finally, conventional dies having bumps added to the input/output bonding pads, are susceptible to handling damage to the bumps. Consequently, there is a need for improved wafers, dies, and associated manufacturing and fabrication techniques, by which the above mentioned and other problems and shortcomings can be mitigated or avoided.
The following presents a simplified summary in order to provide a basic understanding of some aspects of the invention. This summary is not an extensive overview of the invention. It is intended neither to identify key or critical elements of the invention nor to delineate the scope of the invention. Rather, the primary purpose of this summary is to present some concepts of the invention in a simplified form as a prelude to the more detailed description that is presented later. The invention relates to semiconductor apparatus and methodologies, which advantageously provide for improved device fabrication, separation, assembly, and operation, which finds utility in association with hard disk drives and other applications.
One aspect of the invention provides for creating slim channels or trenches between die areas in a semiconductor wafer, using a directional etch technique, such as reactive ion etching (RIE). The etched channels may be created lithographically, thereby freeing up the extra spacing between adjacent die areas previously wasted to account for mechanical alignment inaccuracy in saw-cut separating the dies. The etched channels, moreover, may be made much narrower than was possible using a saw blade. For instance, whereas conventional saw blades are about 25 xcexcm wide or more, the etched channels can be made about 15 xcexcm wide or less. Thus, whereas conventional spacing between adjacent wafer dies is typically 100 xcexcm or more, the present invention allows die spacings as low as about 15 xcexcm. This, in turn, reduces the wasted wafer space. For instance, in hard disk drive pre-amp circuit applications where small dies (e.g., with lengths and widths on the order of about 1000 to 2000 xcexcm) are created, wafer utilization can be improved as much as about 10% through the reduced spacing between adjacent dies. Moreover, the use of chemical etching to create the channels between dies reduces or mitigates particulate matter previously associated with saw-cutting techniques.
Another aspect of the invention involves providing a contoured surface on the back or bottom side of the wafer, which may be employed in combination with the etched top side channels above, or with conventional saw-cut top side trenching techniques. The bottom side contoured surface may be accomplished by any suitable technique such as grinding or etching. Where a dry chemical etch technique is employed, the particles generated by conventional back-grinding can be avoided, and the removal of the bottom side material can be used to expose the etched or saw-cut top-side channels to achieve die separation or singulation. Furthermore, the provision of the contoured surface on the die bottom provides for exposure of greater die surface area to the ambient operating environment, thus facilitating improved convection cooling of the part. In addition, the contoured bottom surface may aid in reducing or avoiding particles generated during ultrasonic attachment of the die to the suspension or other circuit board. For instance, a contoured interface may be provided in an ultrasonic attachment tool, which cooperatively engages the contoured bottom surface of the die to reduce or mitigate slippage during application of ultrasonic energy.